Thoughts on "Joy"

Hi! I am JOY / A fruit of the Spirit;
I come to all Christians / But am often neglected. . .
I dance through creation / And make the stars twinkle
And fill the dry ground / When rain starts to sprinkle. . .
I'm there in all seasons / I love them ALL best.
After a day of hard work / Together we rest. . .
I haunted the Maker / Before He made time;
When all was pronounced good / The pleasure was mine. . .
I bestowed warmth upon earth / At Easter's SON-rise;
I'll escort you to heaven / When someday YOU rise!
---Marie Byars, 1984 (extractions from a longer poem)

An Erma Bombeck Life*

Nature abhors a vacuum. And so do I. Especially since it's moving time! ---Marie Byars

*Erma Bombeck was a humorist who wrote mostly on the drudgery of household upkeep.

Bad History

Q: Why were the Middle Ages called "the Dark Ages"?

A: Because of all the (k)nights! ---Anonymous

(More) Reasons to Hate SUV's!!!

We already know the $4.00+ gallon-a-gas reason to hate 'em. Here are more: (1) they obnoxiously slow down to .0001 m.p.h. to make a simple right turn around a corner; (2) they take 4.7 minutes to go from 0-15 m.p.h., clogging up traffic behind them waiting to pull out when the light turns green (my 4-cylinder stick shift starts out much faster w/o burning up fuel!); (3) they may not get smashed up as much as a compact in an accident, but they roll easier (and compacts are easier to navigate away from an accident, anyway!). ---Marie Byars

The Desert

"Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light." ---Joyce Carol Oates; "Interior Monologue" (1969)

Common Roots

"There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his." ---Helen Keller; The Story of My Life (1903)

Higher Education

The faculty members might just as well keep their seats. There'll be no diving for this cigar. . .Well I thought my razor was dull until I heard his [the introducing professor's] speech. . .As I look out over your eager faces, I can readily understand why this college is flat on its back. The last college I presided over, things were slightly different. I was flat on my back. Things kept going from bad to worse, but we all put our shoulders to the wheel, and it wasn't long before I was flat on my back again. " ---Groucho Marx, in his first speech as a new college president in Horse Feathers